The Big Day

Perfect.  The day was just perfect.

Good Morning Birthday Boy!

All week it had been raining, but on Saturday we woke to clear skies and birds singing.  The sun was shining and it was warm.  F slept well and woke up in a good mood.  The whole house was up and at it by 7:30.

Since we had spent the week preparing, we weren't in a mad rush to get things done.  The house was already spotless.  I had baked the cupcakes the day before and they just needed to be iced.  Tyler had spent the previous evening prepping all the food.  We didn't have our bbq set up yet so needed to think of something other than hot dogs and hamburgers to do.  We were thinking outside of the box and ended up deciding on homemade cabbage rolls, sausages, and roasted potatoes.  Everything was all prepped and ready to go into the oven at lunchtime.

The morning was relaxing, Tyler got up with the boys and got them breakfast while I showered and got ready, then he got to work cleaning up outside while the boys and I hung out.  My mom and brother came early to help out.

Both boys napped well and were well rested for the party.  Everything was going just according to plan!

All our guests arrived between 2-3 and we had a good turnout.  The weather was just perfect!  Easily the nicest day of the year so far.  We were able to set up chairs outside and have the party in the backyard, which was great for the kids.  There were 6 boys in total, including ours.  My cousin's sons Xavier (almost 6) and Ethan (4), and our neighbour's sons Marshall (3.5) and Bennett (15mos).  It was a good mix of ages, and worked out well because they could play with eachother, but it wasn't too crazy.  My almost 14 year old cousin Samantha was there as well and she had a great time with the boys, she is wonderful with kids.  They spent the whole time running around the backyard and playing in the sandbox.

Instead of loot bags (I hate giving out bags of sugary candy and cheap plastic toys), I picked up from Walmart these cool little bug catcher containers.  I thought they went well with my caterpillar theme, and that the kids would have fun with them in the backyard.  I was also hoping it would encourage T to want to look for bugs.  They were such a great idea!  The boys all loved them, and they raced around catching bugs (ewww!).  Even T was all into it!

The food was amazing, I really have to commend Tyler on the cabbage rolls.  They were a hit!  Everyone loved them.  The party moved along at a great pace, and after everyone had eaten we did presents, which of course was a lot of fun for the boys.  F got lots of lovely gifts.

Then onto the cupcakes.  My original plan was to do a cupcake caterpillar (a la The Very Hungry Caterpillar), but once they were frosted they didn't even resemble a caterpillar!  So I abandoned that idea and just served up the cupcakes.  I wasn't sure if people would like them, as they were 'healthy' cupcakes (made from my Baking with Agave book, recipes to follow in another post), but they were a hit as well!  I was so relieved that they turned out well, and that people liked them.  They were really yummy!

The whole party was a lot of fun, and very relaxed.  Everyone seemed to get along great, and we had a great mix of people.  I was happy that lots of family drove out to join us on such a big day.  It was also nice to have some new friends from the neighbourhood come by, as well as our neighbours. 

The party wrapped up in good time and my amazing husband had most of the mess cleaned up before the last guests even left!  By the time the boys were in bed, he had everything totally clean.  What a guy!  The boys didn't end up in bed too much later than usual, which was good.

Everything was just fantastic, I couldn't of asked for a better day.  The weather cooperated, and we had so many lovely guests join us to celebrate.  All the kids were well behaved, the food was good, it was all just....perfect. 

Unfortunately and much to my disappointment, I really didn't get a chance to capture too many pictures of the day.  I'm not a great photographer at the best of times, but we were just so busy watching kids and being hosts that we didn't have time to take pictures.  I'm a little sad, I would have liked to have documented the day a little better through photographs.  I should of at least taken some pictures of the awesome food and cupcakes!  But it's ok.  I'll have to remember for next time!

Here are some of what few pics we did take.

A big thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate with us.  It means so much to us to have family and friends visit for these big events.  We all had an amazing time and hope to do it all again soon!